According to tradition, the known history of Westeros extends back over 12,000 years.[1] However, the oldest historic recounts in Westeros were written after the Andals' arrival to the continent, as the First Men used runes for carving on stone. Everything written about the Age of Heroes, the Dawn Age, and the Long Night originates from stories written down by septons thousands of years later. The accuracy of the legends and myths that recount much of this history is openly questioned by the maesters of the Citadel, amongst others.[2]

Timeline

All dates are in relation to the Conquest of Aegon the Conqueror, using negative numbers for events before Aegon's Conquest. Note, that 'ca' is an abbreviation for the Latin word 'circa', meaning around, or approximately.

The First Men are more numerous, larger, stronger, and more technologically advanced than the children, who try to resist the invaders using their magic and obsidian weapons. It proves unsuccessful, however, and the First Men gradually push deeper and deeper into Westeros, establishing hundreds of petty kingdoms.[1][4]

ca.-10,000

Signing of the Pact: After years of warfare, the First Men and children of the forest come to a standstill and finally agree to a peaceful coexistence, signing the Pact on the Isle of Faces. This pact gives the First Men dominion over the open lands and lets the children keep control over the forested areas. In time, the First Men adopt the worship of the old gods of the forest.

Age of Heroes: An era during the history of Westeros, which would be named so later for the great men and women who live in the years of peace and prosperity following the forging of the Pact. The Pact endures for nearly four thousand years, and in that time, the children of the forest and the First Men grow closer. In time, the First Men set aside many of their cultural differences to embrace the ways and customs of the children of the forest. With the exception of the Drowned God of the Iron Islands and the Lady of the Waves and Lord of the Skies of the Three Sisters, the gods of the children become those of the First Men.

The Long Night: In this time, night seems to last for a generation, and the longest, coldest and darkest winter descends on Westeros. The ice spreads down from the north, and under the cover of darkness, the Others invade Westeros from the uttermost north, marching, killing and raising up the dead to be their servants in unlife and nearly destroying all men in Westeros. The Long Night comes to an end with the Battle for the Dawn. The children and the First Men unite to defeat the Others with dragonglass weapons, with the Night's Watch pushing them back into the frozen reaches of the far north.[5] Legendary figures from this time include the last hero and Azor Ahai, who wields a great sword of fire, Lightbringer. These events are believed to have occurred between eight thousand and six thousand years ago.[6]Building of the Wall: With the Others defeated, Bran the Builder, with the aid of giants, the First Men, and perhaps the children of the forest, raises the Wall, a monumental fortification of ice and ancient magic, to shelter the realms of men from the menaces of the north. The Sworn Brotherhood of the Night's Watch guards the Wall. It is said that Bran the Builder also builds Winterfell, becomes the first King of Winter, and founds House Stark.

The Night's King: Not long after the Wall is complete, the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch breaks his oath. He is seduced by an Other woman from beyond the Wall, declares himself the Night's King, and rises in rebellion with the Watch as his personal army. During the dark years of his reign, horrific atrocities are committed, of which tales are still told in the north even after several millennia. The Starks of Winterfell and the King-beyond-the-Wall, Joramun, join forces to defeat the Night's King and thus restore honor to the Watch. This is the same Joramun who also finds the Horn of Winter, which he is said to use to awaken giants from the earth.

The Andal invasion: The Andals cross the narrow sea and make landfall on its eastern shore at the Fingers in the Vale. They come under the banner of the Faith of the Seven, with seven-pointed stars carved into their chests, wielding weapons of steel. They fight both the First Men and the children of the forest, sweeping the land much like the First Men did thousands of years before. When the Andals crossed the narrow sea from Essos is disputed; some sources indicate six thousand years ago,[7][8] the True History states it was four thousand years ago,[9] and some maesters claim it was two thousand years ago.[9]

For centuries the Andals war with the First Men and the children in an attempt to drive them out. One by one, the six southron kingdoms fall and the weirwoods are burned. Only the north remains under the rule of the First Men, in large part due to the strategically-located fortress of Moat Cailin resisting multiple attempts to take it and thereafter serving as the door between north and south. Even though the north remain secure, the children of the forest begin their slow withdrawal from the lands of men, retreating deeper into their forests and north of the Wall.

Rise of the Valyrian Freehold: While Westeros was recovering from the Long Night, in Essos, the peaceful sheep-herding folk of the Valyrian peninsula find dragons lairing in the Fourteen Fires, an immense chain of volcanoes extending across the neck of the peninsula. The Valyrians tame the dragons with magic, which gives them the means to gain influence over the area. The Valyrian Freehold is established. In its capital, Valyria, magic flourishes, topless towers rise toward the heavens where dragons soar, stone sphinxes gaze down through eyes of garnet, and smiths forge swords of legendary strength and sharpness.

Ghiscari wars: Five wars are fought between the Old Empire of Ghis, the greatest empire on the eastern continent, and the Freehold — wars which Valyria wins with the help of its dragons. The Valyrians practice slavery learned from the Ghiscari.

~4700 BC

Fifth Ghiscari War: The Ghiscari wars end with the fifth war in which Old Ghis is utterly destroyed by the Freehold, as to ensure there would not be a sixth war. The Valyrians destroy the city's walls and streets with dragonflame, and salt and sulfur the fields. With the Ghiscari empire shattered, the Valyrian Freehold expands its influence over the surviving Slaver Cities of Slaver's Bay.[11][12][13]

Following the defeat of the Old Empire of Ghis, the Freehold seeks to expand their territories. The Andals, who had been living in Andalos, traveled west to flee the upcoming Valyrians and prevent slavery. They first landed in the Fingers in the Vale of Arryn. From there, they spread all across Westeros.[10]

~3700 BC

After a thousand years, the Andals who invaded Westeros look towards the Iron Islands. There, they extinguished the line of Urron Greyiron, who had ruled the Iron Islands for a thousand years.[10]

1436 BC

Lorath: A sect of religious dissidents leave the Freehold to establish a temple upon Lorath's main isle, becoming the first inhabitants of the city that will become Lorath.[14]

The Rhoynar migration: Prince Garin the Great raises an army a quarter-million strong to oppose the Valyrians, but fails utterly against their dragons. Following the defeat of the Rhoynar in the Second Spice War, Nymeria, a Rhoynish warrior-queen, evacuates the survivors of Garin's war, mostly women and children, on ten thousand ships across the narrow sea, seeking refuge in Dorne in southern Westeros. There, Nymeria forms a marriage alliance with Lord Mors Martell and together they finally organize the land into one kingdom, establishing House Martell as the ruling house of Dorne after Nymeria's War. Mors adopts many Rhoynish customs. The unification of Dorne under Nymeria and Mors leads to new conflicts with the kingdoms of the Reach and the Storm, expressed through raids, skirmishes, and the occasional wars over the centuries.

The Valyrian Freehold annexes a small island at the mouth of Blackwater Bay, off the east coast of Westeros. The Targaryens, a Valyrian dragonlord family, take control of the island, building a castle whose towers are shaped to look like dragons, giving it its name: Dragonstone.

The Doom of Valyria: The nature of the Doom is unclear, save that heavy volcanic and seismic activity are involved, likely due to the Fourteen Fires, the mountains where the dragons were first discovered. The Valyrian peninsula is shattered and the city of Valyria is laid waste, although not completely destroyed. The dragons of Valyria are virtually wiped out and the Valyrian Freehold crumbles apart in the Century of Blood. Its various city-states break apart, asserting their independence and surviving to this day as the Free Cities and the cities of Slaver's Bay.

The Seven Kingdoms

ca.-3000

Over the centuries following the Andal invasion, the southern kingdoms of the First Men fall, and eventually the Andals raise up six powerful kingdoms of their own.

ca.-3000

Wildling Invasion: The free folk (wildlings) unite under the brother Kings-beyond-the-Wall, Gendel and Gorne. They manage to evade the Night's Watch and bypass the Wall in great numbers using a network of tunnels that extend under the Wall. However, they are met by the Stark king on the other side and are eventually thrown back.

ca. -700

House Stark finally subdues House Bolton, their primary antagonists for dominance in the North. Later Karlon Stark would defeat sea raiders from the east and found the cadet branch House Karstark.
In the west, the ironborn of the Iron Islands rise to power; at their peak they control most of the western coast from Oldtown and the Arbor in the south to Bear Island in the north.

The Rhoynar, fleeing the Valyrians, migrate to Dorne. This is the last major migration into Westeros.

The Faith Militant uprising: Upon Aegon I's death, his son Aenys I takes the throne. He angers the Faith when he marries his eldest daughter to his eldest son, leading to an uprising against the Targaryens. Aenys is incapable of dealing with the crisis, and eventually dies of a short illness on Dragonstone in 42 AC. Dowager Queen Visenys, leading the care for Aenys, brings her son Maegor, Aenys' brother, back from his exile, and Maegor is crowned king, despite Aenys having three sons all before Maegor in the line of succession. Maegor's response to the Faith's uprising is ruthless and brutal, resulting in the deaths of thousands in battle, through slaughter and by dragonfire. Besides the Faith's uprising, Maegor also has to deal with Prince Aegon, Aenys I's eldest son, battling him for the throne, and later Prince Jaehaerys, who makes his claim known towards the end of Maegor's reign. [22][23]

Jaehaerys the Conciliator: King Jaehaerys I succeeds King Maegor, who by that time is known as Maegor the Cruel. He declares a truce and agrees to end the slaughter in return for the Faith Militant disbanding and submitting to the Targaryens, earning the name The Conciliator. Jaehaerys' rule brings decades of peace and prosperity to the realm.[24]

Choosing of 92 AC: With the death of King Jaehaerys I's eldest son and heir, Prince Aemon, King Jaehaerys needs name a new heir, choosing between Aemon’s only child, Princess Rhaenys, and Jaehaerys's own second son, Prince Baelon. Jaehaerys eventually names Baelon.[24]

Rise of the Three Daughters: After defeating Volantis at the Battle of the Borderlands by uniting their forces, the Free Cities Myr, Lys and Tyrosh decide to ally together, forming the Triarchy, also known in Westeros as the Kingdom of the Three Daughters. The Triarchy would last for several decades, during which they found find themselves in conflict with the Targaryens on occasion.[25][26][27]

The Great Council of 101 AC: After Prince Baelon's death, King Jaehaerys I needs to name a new heir once again. The King calls for the first Great Council, so the Lords of Westeros can decide between Princess Rhaenys's only son, Laenor Velaryon, and Prince Baelon's eldest son, Prince Viserys. Viserys is elected with a majority of votes.[24]

Death of the last dragon: King Aegon III Targaryen had struggled to breed healthy dragons - those he had managed to produce are born weak and sickly. He is unable to prevent the death of the last one, earning himself the title 'Dragonbane'. The last dragon dies in 153 AC, and all that is left behind are several eggs which the Targaryens fail to hatch.[30]

Daeron conquers Dorne: Upon taking the throne at age fourteen, King Daeron I decides to finish Aegon the Conqueror's work and launches a successful invasion of Dorne. Unfortunately, he leaves a Tyrell of Highgarden in charge: a house that has warred with the Martells for thousands of years. The tyrannical rule of the Tyrells triggers an uprising against the Iron Throne. When Daeron I returns with a fresh army, he is killed, his cousin Prince Aemon the Dragonknight is captured and his forty thousand men are lost.[31]

Dorne formally joins the Seven Kingdoms through the marriage of King Daeron II's younger sister Daenerys to Prince Maron Martell. After his wedding, Prince Maron swears his fealthy to the Iron Throne.[34]

The Second Blackfyre Rebellion: Blackfyre loyalists attempt to launch a second rebellion, but Bloodraven exposes the plan, the Pretender, Daemon II Blackfyre, and executes many of the conspirators before a battle needs to be fought. These events are depicted in The Mystery Knight.[38]

The Third Blackfyre Rebellion: Haegon I Blackfyre and Aegor Rivers with the Golden Company attempt to invade Westeros. In the end, Haegon is killed after his surrender. Aegor Rivers is arrested, but allowed to go to the Wall by King Aerys I Targaryen. On his way there, his ship is intercepted, and he is freed by his own men. Before the year ended, Rivers had crowned Haegon's son, Daemon, the new Blackfyre King.[39]

Great Council of 233 AC: King Maekar I dies in battle during th ePeake Uprising During Maekar's reign his eldest son Daeron dies of the pox and his second son Aerion "Brightflame" dies after drinking wildfire. His third son, Aemon, has already taken his maesters vows. Maekar dies battling an outlaw lord. Aemon refuses the crown and removes himself to the Wall. Prince Aegon becomes Aegon V, the Unlikely, as he is the fourth son of a fourth son. Bloodraven is exiled to the Wall by the new King, later becoming Lord Commander.[40][41]

The Tragedy of Summerhall: King Aegon V and his heir, Prince Duncan, are killed in a great fire at the Targaryen's summer palace. The fire was triggered by an unsuccessful attempt to hatch the last three dragon eggs left in the west, and it heralded or directly contributed to Rhaegar Targaryen's birth.[41][45]

The Defiance of Duskendale: House Darklyn refuses to pay taxes to the Iron Throne. King Aerys II Targaryen, eager to sort out the situation himself, goes to Duskendale and is taken prisoner. Duskendale is besieged for six months before Barristan Selmy manages to free the king. House Darklyn is destroyed and House Rykker takes over the town. It is said that it was the Defiance that began Aerys' descent into madness. Aerys doesn't leave the Red Keep until 281 AC because of this event.[48]